With his West Philadelphia roots, TOURE is serving up the sound that comes from hard work and unending pursuit in his music. He’s continuing in that vein in his latest LP, Life of the Party, where he expresses reflection and hard-earned successes in his life journey. Life of the Party is bringing musical agility to rhymes and songwriting from the versatile West Philly rapper.
What should we expect from your project Life of the Party?
I want you to expect to be like “D—, this really the best artist in the game.” That’s what I want you to say. It’s talented artists out here, and these labels are giving these dudes two to three million or 10 and 20 million dollars.
It’s dudes out here that are independent doing it with their original group of friends or people that they started off and invested with, and we making it make sense still. It’s good to be on that talent level where other artists are dropping and I don’t have a shaking bone in my body. Oct. 13 is my day.
How was it making the song “Room 303” with Yung Bleu?
I was excited about it when it first happened and I’m still excited about it. I always considered myself versatile as well, so it wasn’t challenging, it was just fun not always having the pressure of the hook and the verse being on me. It felt good to be able to get some of the pressure off me and have somebody doing the hook because I do the hooks and the verses to every song the majority of the time.
Where did your love for music come from?
I grew up in a musical-active house. My pops had DJ equipment and we were always hearing it through the house. My mom was a diehard Jay-Z fan so if she was on the ones and twos, that’s all you’re going to hear. My dad liked classical hip-hop, so KRS-One, Public Enemy, and Talib Kweli.
What is that one message that you want people to hear when they’re listening to your music?
I don’t want to sound cliche, it’s a part in the movie ATL where he pulled out two bankrolls on his little brother, and his little brother asked him what he did. He said “This is what cleaning the floors gets you,” and he told him that he didn’t have to be a dope boy to have money, and I felt that because like my whole life I glorified the dealers. Even listening to Kanye when he said, “You can’t cop cars without seeing cop cars,” that’s real s— when you look at it. Most people you know that become successful in the eyes of you and what you consider success still comes with so many illegal problems that could come with it. Trying to get this legally is a whole different type of drive.
